Pastor gets 3 young people to surrender to police in Chicago transit system robbery

By Tara Molina

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — A 12-year-old and four teenagers were arrested and charged Tuesday in a number of crimes reported on the Chicago Transit Authority system.

Three of the defendants turned themselves in to police Monday night. Pastor Corey Brooks saw the photo of the alleged offenders for whom police were looking, and recognized all of them.

Brooks connected with three of their parents and brought them in to police. Now he says, the real work begins.

“As soon as I saw the picture, my heart sank,” Brooks said. “I was hurt.”

The picture in question showed two rows of surveillance images released by Chicago police of suspects in what they called a dangerous armed robbery. It happened around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at the 47th Street Green Line station, on 47th Street between Prairie and Calumet avenues in Bronzeville.

“I know all the kids in the pictures,” Brooks said.

Brooks leads New Beginnings Church and the community activist group Project Hood. He said the kids accused in the robbery have been involved in their programming.

“I didn’t have to wait to contact the parents. The parents contacted me,” said Brooks. “These are parents who are single parents who are working every single day. They’re not on government assistance. They’re not living on welfare,” Brooks said. “They are going to work every single day. They’re trying to make a living for their children, and it is very difficult and hard for them.”

Brooks brought three of the kids in the photos to the police station to turn themselves in Monday night.

“They were a little upset with me,” Brooks said, “but they know I love them, and I talked to them about that.”

The three—a 12-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl, and a 15-year-old boy—are all now charged with felony armed robbery. Police said they robbed an 18-year-old woman at gunpoint on a train.

“Allegedly, it is a fake gun,” Brooks said.

Meanwhile, two other teens were arrested in several more incidents on CTA property—a 16-year-old and 14-year-old. They robbed and battered each of the victims in their attacks, police said.

Police said a 20-year-old man was robbed at the 47th Street Red Line station at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 20, a 24-year-old man was robbed at the Sheridan Red Line station at 10:20 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 17, another man was robbed at the Bryn Mawr Red Line station the same night, and a 30-year-old man was robbed at the Clark/Division Red Line stop at 12:15 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8.

A robbery was also reported at the Sox/35th Red Line station in this pastern.

Meanwhile, there were five young people of whom surveillance photos were released in connection with the robbery on the Green Line, and only three surrendered. Brooks said the families of the remaining two were not cooperative.

CBS News Chicago reached the Cook County States Attorney’s office and Chief Judge’s office for more information on the underage suspected offenders. They could not provide it.

But Brooks said for the three kids he brought into the police station and their families, the work is only just beginning.

“Our goal is to make sure they don’t continue down a path of destruction,” Brooks said. “Our goal is to intervene and help them to become the best they can possibly be.”

CBS News Chicago looked closer at crime on the CTA, and found robberies are up this year—with a total of 377 reported so far in 2024 compared with 299 in the same timeframe in 2023.

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